Documents show Holt had child porn, confessed to crimes, ditched guns

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GRESHAM – Unsealed search warrants in the case of suspected killer Jonathan Holt show police found child pornography and two handguns he had possessed.

More than 40 pages of documents were released Friday afternoon describing the investigation that eventually identified Jonathan Holt as the suspect in the murder of Whitney Heichel.

The documents also describe police interviews with Holt and his wife Amanda who said her husband disappeared the day Heichel went missing. She told police that it had been "absolutely crazy the past two days" and she was "sure that whole story (Holt's story) sounds crazy as well."

Holt is charged with six counts of aggravated murder in the shooting death of 21-year-old Whitney Heichel, whose body was found by police on Larch Mountain last week.

Documents show investigators found two handguns in their search, one was found outside the Gresham Police Department where he is thought to have ditched it.

Holt admitted to detectives there was child porn on a computer in his possession and that he had previously broken into Heichel’s apartment and stolen an iPhone.

A team of detectives set up surveillance of Holt at his job at Canteen Services in Portland before he was arrested.

A detective following Holt said they watched him dump ammunition boxes, ammunition and a holster at locations around Gresham. Later, before a scheduled interview with detectives, Holt hid a handgun near his work and another in the bushes of the Gresham Police Department parking lot, both of which were recovered by police.

In his interview, Holt admitted shooting and killing Heichel. He also told police had had downloaded child pornography on computers he owned.

Initially, Holt said he had been robbed at gunpoint the morning of October 16, the same day Whitney Heichel disappeared.

Holt told detectives two men robbed him, taking his backpack and electronics while he was on his way to ride the MAX to work -- a story police said was retold later with inconsistencies.

Detectives said Holt told them he was "stressed" about the alleged robbery and that if it had not happened, he would have been more helpful to them regarding Whitney's disappearance.

Holt's wife told detectives he had told her the story about being robbed, and she replied to detectives that the story sounded "crazy" and she felt he was "probably lying" to her.

Holt eventually confessed to investigators he shot and killed Whitney, then led them to where he dumped her body on Larch Mountain, according to police.

6 agg. murder counts for suspect Jonathan Holt

by KGW.com Staff

Posted on October 26, 2012 at 11:53 AM

Updated yesterday at 4:16 PM

PORTLAND - The man accused of kidnapping, sexually abusing and killing Whitney Heichel will attend a court hearing Friday.
Jonathan Holt, 24, is accused of shooting Heichel to death and then hiding her body on Larch Mountain last week, according to the probable cause document, which said he confessed to investigators.

In a new indictment in Clackamas County, Holt was charged with six counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, sex abuse and robbery.
The hearing lasted roughly two minutes and Holt answered “yes” when asked if his birthday was correctly stated.

Holt was ordered to be held without bail.

Holt said he waited outside Heichel's Gresham apartment on October 16 and asked her for a ride. Then, just five minutes into the ride, he pointed a gun at Whitney and forced her to drive to Roslyn Lake, where she was sexually assaulted and then shot.
Family and friends gather to remember Whitney at the Salquist Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Gresham Friday.

GRESHAM, Ore. -- The Gresham community honored a life cut short by tragedy at a gathering for 21-year-old Whitney Heichel Friday.

Heichel's family said countless strangers have reached out to them and helped ease their pain after the 21-year-old was found murdered last week. The family wanted to have a chance to celebrate Whitney's life with the entire community at an open house at the Salquist Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Gresham.

“It’s very hard and it’s very hard for me to be at my apartment and have her not walking around and doing her little thing you know? She just was the sweetest little person I’ve ever known,” Whitney’s husband Clint said.

“We hear a lot of bad things that go on, but there are good people out there. And they’re willing to help. And I can’t express my thanks enough, you know, to everyone whose had a hand in every part of this,” he added.

Meanwhile the suspect in Heichel's murder, Jonathan Holt, is scheduled to appear in court Friday.

According to the probable cause document, Holt told investigators he waited outside Heichel's Gresham apartment on October 16 and asked her for a ride. Then, just five minutes into the ride, he pointed a gun at Whitney and forced her to drive to Roslyn Lake and perform sex acts on him.

Whitney's husband, Clint told KGW in an exclusive interview that he never suspected Holt, who he knew as their neighbor and a member of their congregation.

“We just tried to be the best people we could and not hold a grudge … there’s a bad sheep in every community … I don’t want to make a huge spectacle. What’s taken place is horrible, I'm just doing the best I can to keep moving forward without her,” Heichel told KGW.

Holt was wearing a suicide smock in his first court appearance, as he was officially charged with seven counts of aggravated murder with a firearm. The judge briefly questioned Holt and then ordered him held without bail.

The court document said that Holt shot and killed Heichel near the lake, on Southeast Thomas Road in Clackamas County, then hid her body near Larch Mountain. She died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to autopsy results.

"We were completely shocked to find out that Jonathan Holt, an irregular attendee of our meetings, was arrested and would be in any way tied to this case as a suspect," the church said in a prepared statement.

"Jehovah’s Witness regard life as precious, a gift from God," the statement continued. "We had no indications that would lead us, prior to this event that he would be capable of being involved in what is alleged to have happened."

Gresham police announced late Friday that they found Whitney's body on Larch Mountain, and they had arrested Holt in her murder after he was interviewed several times by police.

Police obtained DNA and fingerprints from Holt after a second voluntary interview, in which they noticed several inconsistencies from his first interview. He then came in to the police department for an additional interview Friday and was arrested. At about that same time, detectives at Larch Mountain located Heichel's body. Police did not specify a motive for the murder.

Heichel's mother Lorilei Ritmiller described her daughter as someone willing help everyone. Her nickname was "momma" because she was just that to so many.

"She's not a picture, she's not a story, she's our daughter, she's a wife, she's a sister, she has five sisters and a brother. She has grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and thousands of people in the community of our faith that absolutely adore her," Ritmiller said. "She's sunshine in our hearts, She's gentle, she's compassionate."

Whitney Heichel headed for work at the Starbucks on Northeast Burnside Street in Gresham Tuesday, to start at her usual time of 7 a.m. But she never made it. Her co-workers said they were concerned because she had always been very punctual.

Clint Heichel said Whitney kissed him goodbye at 6:45 that morning and that was the last time he saw her. He said Starbucks contacted him after she failed to show up, and he then called and texted her "a million times," but she never responded. He called 911 to report her missing at about 10 a.m.

Gresham police said they treated the case as a criminal investigation from the beginning. Crews searched for evidence at Dodge Park in Sandy on Wednesday and searched Wednesday through Friday at Larch Mountain, above the Gorge. They said her vehicle had been to the two locations.

Police released a timeline Wednesday that said her SUV had pulled into a service station at 9:14 a.m., on 257th and Stark, and her bank card was used.

Whitney's vehicle, a 1999 black Ford Explorer, was later found outside the Walmart in Wood Village at around 1 p.m., according to the police timeline. Police towed the SUV away as part of their investigation.

"The window was busted out, the backseats were down and there was mud on the tires and the car wasn't like that this morning," Clint said Tuesday. "It's highly irregular for her to disappear without any communication. I just hope and pray somebody saw something and that we'll hear from them soon."

A family friend also told KGW that several transactions were made on Heichel’s debit card, including at ATM machines and three different gas stations.

They said that gas station attendants at one of those locations -- a truck stop in Troutdale - remembered seeing her SUV and said Heichel was sitting in the passenger seat with a man driving. They said the man was acting suspicious and hurried, buying only a small amount of gas.

Investigators said Heichel's cell phone, found Thursday, contained messages from her husband and family, and possibly location data. Investigators said the phone was turned off when it was found by children playing in a field near the Troutdale Terrace apartments at 701 SW 257th. At the time, Gresham police called it "a very favorable find."

The apartment complex where the phone was found is about a mile and a half from the Shell gas station where Heichel's bank card was used the morning she disappeared. It's also about two miles from the Wood Village Walmart where her abandoned SUV was found with the passenger window broken out.

Police found some of Whitney Heichel's belongings in two dumpsters, one at the Walmart parking lot, and the other at a nearby shopping center. That evidence helped lead detectives to the suspect in her murder.

The Gresham Police Department spokesman, Lt. Claudio Grandjean, said Thursday afternoon police had found "some important items" at both locations but did not elaborate at the time.

The SUV Heichel was driving had a missing license plate when it was located. That license plate was found at Larch Mountain, and that clue led police to search the area where her body was ultimately found.

Grandjean said Starbucks and Walmart contributed numerous man-hours and large amounts of video to help support police in the investigation.

Interactive Map: Last known locations of Whitney Heichel's vehicle (click on map)